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May 3, 1986: Delta Rocket Fails to Launch GOES-G Weather Satellite
On May 3, 1986, NASA attempted to launch a new weather satellite called GOES-G for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but the rocket malfunctioned in mid-air. About a minute after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral, lightning struck the Delta rocket and created a short circuit. This caused the rocket’s main engine to shut […]
April 28, 2001: World’s 1st Space Tourist Launches to International Space Station
On April 28, 2001, the world’s first space tourist hitched a ride to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The 60-year-old businessman and multimillionaire Dennis Tito funded his own trip to space, and it cost him $20 million. He originally signed a deal with a private company called MirCorp to fly to […]
April 27, 1961: NASA Launches Explorer 11
On April 27, 1961, NASA launched Explorer 11, a satellite that contained the first gamma ray telescope to go to space. This marked the birth of space-based gamma ray astronomy. Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation and have the highest energy of any kind of wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves come […]
April 25, 1990: Hubble Space Telescope is Deployed in Space
On April 25, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed! Hubble is famous for taking some of the most amazing deep-space photos ever. It hitched a ride to space on the space shuttle Discovery with mission STS-31. Also on board were astronauts Charles Bolden, Loren Shriver, Bruce McCandless, Steven Hawley and Kathryn Sullivan. The crew […]
April 24, 1970: China Launches Its 1st Satellite
On April 24, 1970, China became the fifth nation to independently launch a satellite into orbit. Dong Fang Hong I was the first of a series of satellites China launched under the Dong Fang Hong space satellite program. It lifted off on a Long March I rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The name […]
April 19, 1971: World’s first Space Station Salyut 1 is Launched into Orbit
On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. This space station was a modified version of the Soviet Union’s Almaz space station, which was part of a highly classified military program and was still under development at the time. After NASA managed to put astronauts on the moon, […]